[ me | others ] waiting for the light to change otherwise | watch the fun-ee see also | userinfo furthermore | calendar

you're a genuine feminine female thing... [friday nov 27 2009|1:22p] just passed 71,000 words of my new novel. I am starting to write the ending-ish type part, which will lead to finishing the whole book, and I'm now partially convinced that this story is horrible and stupid and nobody will like it and I'm a useless writer. however, I'm not letting this affect the fact that I WILL FINISH IT. BY MONDAY NO LESS. I'm pretty sure that's just what happens when the story lives in my head for a while and I start to analyze the details. soooo I will press on to the end, and then put it away and not look at it again for a few months. and it will hopefully regain the gloriousness it had at the beginning of the month. (I stress the "hopefully" again. please?) also, I can't wait to read Harry Potter again. mood  =  LET'S DO THIS THING no soup for you!

[thursday nov 19 2009|5:47p] I forgot to tell livejournal when I hit 50,000 words on Sunday, but it happened! I am now at 56k total and trying to average about 2,000 words a day until the end of the month. hopefully that will equal a finished book with some kind of story arc in place. right now I just want to finish it so much that I am trying to decide if I should put the end in motion yet, but it doesn't feel right. I am definitely getting close to the end though. I can so finish this damn book before December!! no soup for you!

[saturday nov 14 2009|11:50p] HOW IS BABBY FORMED? HOW GIRL GET PRAGNENT? http://www.somethingawful.com/flash/shmorky/babby.swf no joke, I laughed so hard I cried and made the dogs nervous. no soup for you!

[saturday nov 14 2009|1:06a] well, livejournal, it's been a while. however, considering how often I used livejournal as an avoidance device to not write my novel last year, I think this is a good thing and will probably keep it up for the duration of November. I am done writing for tonight and I'm well on my way to reaching 50k by Sunday night. assuming I actually stick to my plans for tomorrow and Sunday, it should be easy enough. I am at 40,600 words right now, so that's kind of a bold goal to have, but I've done 5,000 word days three times so far and I think it's within my grasp. also, I have just thought up a possible title for this story. it's a kind of darker story about a blended family; the mom has a teenage son, and the dad has a teenage daughter, and the story begins just after they all move in together. it is told from all four viewpoints. anyhow, the title that occurred to me was Step. I think it also fits because the teen girl is sent to rehab. it doesn't really work for the other story lines, but I think it's good enough for a working title. I am never married to titles and that's the easiest thing about a story to change, so in terms of having something to call this book in the interim, I think it works. I have been trying out a new sleeping schedule that involves going to bed at 1 am and waking up at 9 or 10 am. it turns out that this helps me sleep so much better it's unbelievable. and I am somehow feeling less tired during the day than I do if I go to bed at 11pm. for now though, I am very sleepy. Fridays are sleepy days. no soup for you!

[thursday nov 5 2009|10:46p] my book club meeting was tonight. it was fun I guess, but I had chosen the book, and three of them hadn't read it and one had only read half of it. the three that didn't read it are the mother and two daughters, so I have my suspicions that they all decided not to read the book. and so I got annoyed. they didn't offer any explanation for why they didn't read it, but I suspect it was because they didn't like the idea of it. it was about a M2F transsexual and his/her surgery and a woman he/she dated. it was so interesting, I thought, and it provoked a lot of really intriguing thoughts on gender and love and whatnot, but they couldn't be bothered to read the book so we barely even talked about it. even the people who read it were more focused on how "weird" the trans character was and how they had a hard time understanding him/her. and we didn't even really discuss what I think was the most interesting part, which was the way the trans person's relationships changed after the surgery. it was so disappointing to me. but I guess that's what I get. the novel is still going strong. I wrote a thousand words in 40 minutes earlier today. I am just a few hundred words from 15,000 so I think that's my goal for now. potentially I will go further than that, though. very much liking my novel still, though I am a little concerned I will forget what happened at the beginning by the time I get to the end. maybe I should start making a list of things that happened and things that I have already mentioned? ehh that would take a lot of time though. I probably don't want to get bogged down with that kind of thing. anyway. that is all. no soup for you!

[monday nov 2 2009|8:55p] I think where nano is concerned, no news is good news. and by that I mean, THIS IS THE GREATEST NOVEL I'VE EVER WRITTEN EEEEEE!! granted, it's only 5,200 words right now and very little has happened and 28 days of writing remain, but it's just going so swimmingly. beyond swimmingly. for example, I had this vague idea for a chapter that literally was like "the teenage girl goes to a party and gets attacked by some guy," and the vagueness of this made me feel a little uneasy, but then I started writing that part and everything just sort of came together. like, I invented a character at the beginning to give her someone to talk to and then he turned out to be pretty creepy so it looks like he's our rapist, and the girl has become quite a character herself, with a lot more depth than I thought she had. so it turns out I can plan very minimally and the world won't fall off its axis. this is a very educational experience. also, I have started watching 30 Rock on Netflix "watch instantly" thing (I'm almost through the first season), and I have to say it is a pretty good show. I like Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin verily. on the sad side, I have been having crazy dizzy spells for the past hour or so. not sure what that's about. also, I still have like 100 pages of the book club book to read before Thursday, and I for serious have to read this book b/c I am the one who chose it so I have to lead the discussion. that's not terribly sad because the book is pretty good, but it is sad that I have to do it this week. I have another book to pay attention to, man. speaking of books, I think that my reward for finishing nano will be to reread the last Harry Potter. I got the paperback this summer but haven't let myself read it again yet (mainly because I was busy writing my other novel... the plan for which I am almost thinking I should chuck out the window, but I don't know, that one feels different). anyway. I'm cold and I need to write 800 more words to meet my own personal goal for today. but I banged out 600 words in like 20 minutes earlier, so I don't really see that taking very long. I hope it stays this easy, man. and I hope I haven't jinxed myself by babbling for ten minutes about how easy it is and how well it's going. music  =  Gary is watching football. suck. no soup for you!

[wednesday oct 28 2009|3:23p] new icon. I said it on Facebook and I will say it here: I find it impossible to understand people who don't like cats. they're just so overwhelmingly cute. in other news, somehow I am finding it possible to go to sleep at 1 or 1:30 and wake up at 9 and not feel exhausted for the entire day. I'm not sure if this is related to my sleeping pattern, which seems a bit unlikely, or if it's because I'm taking omega 3 supplements these days. that seems unlikely to keep me awake too, though. so. who knows what the deal is. however, additional good news in that area: much of what I'm staying up for is writing-related. I sent two poems to Poetry magazine (mostly just to make sure that my instinct that they don't want my work is correct) a few days ago, and since then I've been either investigating new journals to send stuff out to or reviewing my 5+-year-old drafts that all seem to be 7 pages long (very strange coincidence). I read one of those drafts last night and although the writing was kind of obnoxious (makes me a little worried about how my writing will look to me in five more years), the story was really quite good. I think I could use it. I have absolutely no idea where it was supposed to go, though, and of course I left zero notes. but that's probably why I abandoned it in the first place, that I had no idea where to go next. so I guess we'll see if one day I feel like starting that one over again. I have to read at the writing group again in November, and I kind of obligated myself to bring the beginning of my novel. not looking forward to it because it feels a tiny bit early in the process to have others read it. like I kind of want to finish it first and then re-read it myself before letting others read it. but who knows how long that would take me, so this is probably for the best. come back in 6 years :: no soup for you!

[friday oct 16 2009|10:36p] P.S. my novel has a new title: The Stupidest Thing I Ever Did. I think it's catchy. no soup for you!

[friday oct 16 2009|10:12p] my friends page is very Nano-community-heavy these days, so y'all may be tired of it but that's what I'm going to talk about. it looks like my writing self has gone on hiatus even where livejournal is concerned. maybe she is hiding in fear of November. I wouldn't blame her because when I realized that November does not start next weekend, I was relieved beyond words. ha. Gary thinks I'm crazy for doing this because I'm still dreading it. regardless, I am still committed to trying, and I'm also committed to quitting if I feel like not doing it. and I thought about setting a different goal of 30k words instead, so that I would only have to do 1,000 words per day, which I think would be doable. but whatever. we'll see how it goes. maybe I will just quit on day two. I'm completely unable to understand the Nano mentality of "for god's sake don't write a story you care about!!!" this is something pedaled all over the Nano website and in the book Chris Baty wrote and all over the Nano livejournal community. but I don't get it. I just don't understand how people can make themselves write something they don't care about. that would bore the snot out of me, or at least make me feel so much like a hack that I wouldn't get past the first chapter. I just don't see why anyone would want to waste an entire month writing tens of thousands of words on a story that they are not invested in at all. I mean, I get the point as in, don't write it thinking it will be awesome, but it seems like that takes it way way too far. how do you not write about a character you like? or a story you find compelling? and maybe more to the point, why would you waste 50,000 words on a story you don't care about? I think those words could be better written about something you actually want to write. it doesn't make sense to me. come back in 3 years :: no soup for you!

[tuesday oct 6 2009|12:26p] an interesting pattern I've noticed from working more on my novel lately: the words flow most easily when I am writing transition scenes between the ones I've planned, or when I get sidetracked by a new scene that is not in my plan at all, or when I'm expanding a scene beyond the plan. and my mind always resists writing the scenes that are in the plan. couple those observations with how unbelievably bored I was with my story last November, and I have concluded that I will not write down anything in advance for my Nano this year. it will probably need a lot more work than the one I started last year, but at least I might finish it before the end of time (and maybe even within the month of November), and I might not want to slit my own throat during the process. also, I might let myself quit if it turns out to be horrible again. last year was really painful, and I don't think I will force myself to be so miserable again. I feel invigorated by this new approach, and now I am almost excited about trying it out. maybe next year I won't even come up with a plot in advance and see how that turns out. for this year, I want to stick with the bones of the story I came up with, but I will let it flex as it wishes. and I won't plan any of the scenes, which just might be the key to having fun. mood  =  refreshed no soup for you!

[wednesday sep 23 2009|12:32p] yesterday I signed up with a mentoring email pen-pal program called In2Books. it's like a book club for kids and adults. basically I will be matched up with a kid that is in 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade, and we will read a book then talk about it over emails. it's a really well organized program, and everything is centralized on the website, and there's a ton of info for the pen pals so that we can actually help the students learn. I am so excited about this! the matching starts next week, and I hope I will get a kid. and then I hope it will be fun. also, this Friday I will be going to Chicago for the weekend. that will be fun also. I get to start packing today, wahoo! no soup for you!

[sunday sep 20 2009|10:09p] I really wish I could say, after a year of regular workouts and losing all this weight, that my passion is running and working out and it makes me feel great and I look forward to it. but it isn't and it doesn't and I don't. I guess it's not as bad as it used to be just for the sheer fact of the routine and I'm not as terribly out of shape. I would just really love to be someone who finds exercise enjoyable. instead, the things I find enjoyable involve sitting on my ass. mostly this makes me nervous for the future and keeping the weight off. Facebook is driving me crazy by not displaying posts and comments correctly and also forgetting to "remember me" like I told it to do when I checked the box. it sucks. also, something important I have learned about my television habits is that I just cannot stay interested in dramas that aren't reality shows. I really tried so hard to keep watching Breaking Bad, but I couldn't do it. it's a fantastic show, too, that's the weird part. I know it's good, but I still have no interest in watching it. I think part of the reason is that the storyline gives me anxiety problems. but I watched one and a half seasons. I wish I could watch it, but apparently not enough to actually watch it. on the other hand, Community (Joel McHale's show) turned out to be pretty funny, and I am really interested in seeing Modern Family next week. at least 75% of the reason for that is because Ed O'Neil is awesome and I am so glad to see him on TV again. so we'll see how that turns out. my novel is over 70,000 words right now and autumn is upon us. it's been a good weekend. no soup for you!

[thursday sep 17 2009|5:01p] Drifa hurt her leg last week. she's been limping around since last Thursday, so we took her to the vet last night. turns out, she has a partially torn ligament in her left hind leg. then on top of that, she had bloodwork done because they like to check it before giving them the drugs they were going to use, and her liver enzymes were high, soooo it appears she has some kind of liver problem. for now, all the vet told us to do about that was start feeding her senior food, so at least it won't be expensive yet. I guess later there is medicine she might need. who really knows. a lot of what the vet said made no sense to me because I think she was assuming a base level of medical knowledge that I do not have. either way, I guess we'll be monitoring her liver. on a random note, did you people know that Anna Faris was in Brokeback Mountain? she played the girl Ennis dates toward the end. I had to look it up on her IMDb page before I believed it. looks and sounds nothing like her. she must have had some serious plastic surgery since then. I am sleepy. no soup for you!

[wednesday sep 9 2009|11:20p] I really miss hanging out at the UCF bookstore. I spent a lot of hours there reading stories for class and workshop stuff, and eating delicious things from the Starbucks that sold actual food (I've never seen any others sell soup or paninis), and taking accidental naps in the huge comfy couches. I almost want to go sit at Borders for the fun of it. maybe I will try it out during November. no soup for you!

teenage girls in a nutshell [wednesday sep 9 2009|5:51p] Teenage girl to friend: Boyfriends are so overrated, except not really because I really want one. no soup for you!

and THAT'S why I love her. [tuesday sep 8 2009|5:41p] "If I can do anything in this time of my career, it's to make it easier for girls who are growing up not to feel they have to wind up with someone to complete them. You know, I complete me. I'm just lucky that after I completed myself, I met someone who could tolerate me." - Sandra Bullock no soup for you!

[monday sep 7 2009|11:08p] I worked a bit on my novel over the weekend. I really would like to finish this one before November, when I will (probably) do NaNoWriMo again. but I don't want to put myself through a rigorous writing schedule right before doing NaNo. but I also don't want to start a new novel with the first one unfinished. BUT I think that if I make myself finish this novel right before writing the new one, I will have a really hard time writing the new one. you see the dilemma that is evolving here. why didn't I finish it over the summer like I swore I would?? why am I such a horrible writing slacker?? (answer: because there are such good movies/tv shows/books/naps/solitaire games to be entertained by instead, and they are not hard. turns out, I am averse to hard things in all forms. god knows how I made it through grad school.) mood  =  frustrated! no soup for you!

OINY [tuesday sep 1 2009|4:53p] Drunk guy #1, doing acrobatic moves on subway bars: I have the tears of a gay ballerina on me. Drunk guy #2: Yeah, and it's kind of redundant. it's funny because it's nonsense! no soup for you!

[sunday aug 30 2009|10:30p] things I have learned: reading two books at the same time can lead to problems. namely, which one to read when they are both equally engrossing? decisions. no soup for you!

[tuesday aug 25 2009|12:55p] dkfjwoejoijsdd for micro-management. no soup for you!

[monday aug 24 2009|1:38p] my phone won't be here until tomorrow, and I have a cavity. I hate you, today!!!! (plus side about today: I am going salaried at work, which somehow means a bigger raise. probably just to round off the yearly figure. wahoo! that does not negate my immediate concerns about today, though, and I still want to go back to sleep until tomorrow.) no soup for you!

[sunday aug 23 2009|9:18p] someone in the writing group asked me if I was glad not to go to school, and this would be my first semester out, right? uhhhh NO. for some reason I was a bit offended. I mean, I was well out of school when I joined the group (Feb of this year). but I guess it's better than "so when's that hip surgery scheduled for, old old lady?" my cell phone is driving me CRAZY. it has gone down to low-battery beeping mode every freaking day in the past week, and when it is in this state, I have to turn it off or immediately start charging it because it just beeps continually. one day it woke me up with this ridiculous beeping. it's such a useless piece of crap. let's all pray fervently that I receive my new phone tomorrow. and while we're praying about tomorrow, also throw in a note about me not having any cavities because I visit the dentist tomorrow. I've been putting it off for a while, so it's time to go. Jen called me earlier to ask if I could give her a ride tomorrow night, and I told her that I could unless I found out that I have a cavity, because in that case I would probably have to kill myself. have I mentioned that I hate fillings? Gary and I watched There Will Be Blood earlier. I found it slow and kind of dull, but if it had been edited better (did we need those first 20 minutes AT ALL?? or that really long scene in the restaurant with the kid?), it would possibly have been really good. as it stands, I didn't love it, but I can't quite hate it. it was pretty intriguing to see the incredible depths of one man's inhumanity. but I feel a little cheated that it used up over two and a half hours of my life. what is with all these really fucking long movies where NOTHING happens for large chunks of the movie? it's an epidemic that I do not care for. today, Drifa stabbed me in the eye with her nose. what this teaches us is that if I keep my fingers out of my eyes, the animals start with the eye-poking. can't we just not poke my eyes? I am reading two really good books simultaneously and it makes my decision of which one to read extremely difficult. it also makes it hard for me to decide not to read but to try to write something. AND it makes it hard to go from reading these really, really, really well-written books to writing what is sure to be mediocre drivel. sad. no soup for you!

[friday aug 21 2009|6:24p] I didn't know I haven't updated in like a week. interesting. it doesn't feel like it's been that long. tomorrow I have a writing group meeting. I am glad to go but it also throws into sharp relief the fact that I haven't written a single word of something publishable in oh so many months. it's been so long I feel like I must not really enjoy writing. although I have faithfully written in my livejournal for like nine years now (wow, that long??). I think it's a matter of instant gratification and audience. and my complete lack of follow-through where no real consequences are involved. I have also been having knee problems. for the first time ever. (it's all downhill after 25, kids.) Gary thinks I have a pinched or inflamed nerve. a heat/cold pack system seems to make the pain stop, but we're talking about a constant dull ache coupled with random shooting pains. and this is just sitting with my leg up. whether I'm standing has no bearing on the pain. it is sucko, I tell you. hopefully it will go away soon. but on the bright side, I had my annual review yesterday and it went swimmingly, and then Katie (HR person) took it upon herself to muscle me a raise. I had given up on the idea of a raise this year so I hadn't even asked about it, but Katie decided that I deserve one and just made it happen. I was kind of touched, I have to say. and also, I decided that I hate my cell phone (and I've kind of not liked it much since I got it two years ago) so I looked at some upgrades and will be getting the totally awesome Samsung Alias 2. look it up and tell me it's not the coolest thing you've ever seen. in terms of design, I think it's even more interesting than the iPhone because the buttons are different depending on how you're using it. and let's face it, touch screen has been done before. (but it doesn't have any fancy apps, so in practice not quite that cool.) and it stores music and has a headphone jack, and I LOVE IT. I am so very excited. sadly, I won't get it until next week sometime. Katie had to order it since it's the company's account and she said it will come two-day mail, so either Monday or Tuesday. CAN'T WAIT. I will also get texting, at least at first, because it is a very text-friendly phone, so start texting me next week!! anyhow, I'm still working for a while more. last week I had so little to do by Friday that I stopped working at like 3pm, so I have some time to make up. plus I have a ton of stuff to do. so it's all good. no soup for you!

[thursday aug 13 2009|4:33p] good news: my rash is basically gone. took it long enough though. bad news: today is not Friday. booooo. although good news again, tomorrow IS Friday. I might go shopping tonight a little. still have some gift cards to spend and I want to buy some more shorts. plus, I got a 40% off coupon to Borders, so I may go back and get this book I saw but decided not to buy at full price. I got it from the library yesterday, so I may spend some time reading it before I actually buy it. I wish Victoria's Secret would send me a coupon. their bras are so expensive, but they actually carry my size and I want one more bra. they just keep sending me stupid crap about clearance stuff. but of course, nothing on clearance is my size. suck. I had the most horrible dream last night that I was trying to buy a Snickers bar at some store, but the checkout girl couldn't ring it up, so I had to wait forever while she asked another employee about it and tried to talk me into buying a different candy and helped other customers and did all sorts of ridiculous stuff. I kept telling her "it can't be more than two dollars, so let me just give you two dollars." and she argued with me about that. she was like "um.... I'm not sure how much it is." man was I frustrated. also, I hate my period and want it to die. and this is nothing compared to what it was without birth control. I don't know how women who have any sort of painful period live without birth control. (although every now and then, I worry a little bit about having a spontaneous stroke.) so on that note, I have to go take more ibuprofen. come back in 2 years :: no soup for you!

coldest story ever told [monday aug 10 2009|8:55p] I have a terrible rash from the spray sunblock I used on Friday. there are bumps all over my face and arms, and they seem to have gotten worse over the last few days. at first they weren't itchy, but now they are, although they aren't red or anything - you can only see them in shadows. they are the devil. I'm wondering if it was not my sunblock because it keeps getting worse, but that's basically the only thing I've ever used on both my arms and face. and I took Benadryl but it didn't help. it just made me very sleepy. well actually, maybe that's why it got worse today, because I took Benadryl all weekend. perhaps I will take some tonight and see if it helps. also! I have been using gradual tanning lotion on my legs (an idea inspired by my aunt) and it works amazingly well. it doesn't look fake or streaky or anything either. it just looks like I actually go in the sun sometimes, and it makes me feel less weird about wearing shorts. which is good, obviously, because it is so flipping hot these days. and I may try to buy some more shorts this weekend at Kohl's, before they stop selling shorts. anyhow, I started the Rhett book last night and I am extremely intrigued. it seems to be written by a much better writer than the horrible jerk who wrote Scarlett. I only got about 10 pages in, but my interest is piqued. I hope he does a good job writing Scarlett. so my willingness to go back to work is done, and it can be Friday tomorrow. please? no soup for you!

[sunday aug 9 2009|10:00p] my mother and aunt left yesterday, and I am left wondering why I ever wanted them here in the first place. it wasn't bad most of the time, but sometimes it was the most frustrating and annoying situation I've ever willingly put myself in and I wanted to stab both of them in the eyes with a screwdriver. I was reminded why I don't consider my family my friends. because even when I'm annoyed with my friends, I don't get THAT annoyed. sooooo suffice it to say that I am more than happy to go back to work tomorrow, since it means all of my relatives are safely thousands of miles away from me again. in other news, I kind of almost died this week. we went whitewater rafting in Canon City with Ashlee's husband, and our raft dumped everyone out in a class 4 rapid. we had helmets and lifejackets on, but those don't really keep the water from washing over your head every five seconds and I completely expected to die the minute I fell in. it was horrifying. the whole time I was in the water I thought I was going to drown. but I managed to find the raft and Ben pulled me back in to it within only a few minutes. I now realize I wasn't actually in danger of dying, especially since I remembered the safety tip not to put your feet on the river bottom (because the rocks can catch your foot and the water then pulls you under and you're trapped). I kept wanting to stand up, but I never did. my aunt was one of the last in the boat and she got some pretty spectacular bruises from the rocks. my mom wasn't hurt at all, she was the last one in the river and the first one out. I was pretty much unharmed - my left ear still hurts a little (I think from my sunglasses) and my watch band broke, but those are the extent of my injuries. actually I got more physical harm from the sunblock I used a few days ago. I think I'm allergic to it, because it gave me bumps all over my face and arms. sucko. when we weren't engaging in dangerous outdoor activities, we saw movies (The Proposal, which was pretty good; Funny People, which was not at all good; and The Hangover, which was really good), went shopping, went to the pool, visited Fort Collins, went to the rodeo, saw the Swetsville Zoo (which is not a zoo at all but a sculpture garden), visited the Denver Botanic Gardens, painted pottery, and probably did some other things I can't remember. I painted a mug at the pottery place and it came out really well, and driving in Denver reminded me why I don't live in Denver (namely, unbelievable traffic at 2pm). pretty good times overall, in fact. the parts where we weren't having stupid ridiculous arguments at least. I finished Sophie Kinsella's new book this weekend and it was really good. I also finished the other book I started recently, Lucky, which was pretty fantastic even though it was a little bit heartbreaking. now I am going to read the book about Rhett (I think it's Rhett's People) and Mark Haddon's second book. cross your fingers that the Rhett book doesn't suck. no soup for you!

[thursday jul 30 2009|11:39a] I may be taking a short trip to Chicago in September with AC (my editing boss) to visit Emily (my editing coworker). very excited by this because I have been wanting to visit Chicago for a while. I am a little scared of being murdered, but hopefully I won't be wandering around by myself in dark alleys, so I will probably be okay. anyway, the point is, it will be awesome. also, one of the interns at work accidentally deleted one of my edited templates. the unedited version was recovered. and it is a sucky sucky one and it is making my life miserable. PLUS I am ignoring the other work I have to do to finish this stupid thing. therefore, I may punch an intern this week (although he felt so bad about it that I started feeling kind of sorry for him. not anymore though). maybe eventually this portfolio will be done?? let's all join hands in prayer. come back in 2 years :: no soup for you!

we can't move on and we can't stay here [wednesday jul 29 2009|11:17p] the portfolio is about 98% edited and I am officially (well, officially to myself) no longer involved. there were about 5 templates left to edit when I last checked this afternoon, and I finished my last ones before lunch. THE END! you know, more than once in the last few weeks, this template has made me wish I drank. I just found it so hard to disconnect from the portfolio and relax. so now I feel like I just climbed a huge mountain of the shittiest writing ever committed to typeface. on the plus side, I got over 30 hours of overtime in total, which is FANTASTIC. beyond belief fantastic. so that makes it worth it, and it makes me perfectly content that I gave up basically all of my July to work. in other news, have I explained how very awesome the new Rob Thomas CD is? because it is more awesome than you probably think, and you may be telling yourself right now, in a scoffing sort of tone, "I don't want to buy that stupid CD," but trust me, you DO. it is full of extremely awesome songs, and none that really suck. I'd say it's better than his first one. and I loved his first album. this one is just ultra super fab. my mom and aunt will be here on Sunday. thus, my week of cleaning has commenced. well, it probably won't last a whole week, particularly because I haven't really started yet and there isn't a whole week left. but I will clean things I never usually clean, such as my car. I haven't vacuumed it in years, and I haven't washed it basically since it was a year old. I will also pull all the weeds from the rock beds around the yard, and mow the yard (which is growing like crazy since we've had tons of rain again lately), and all sorts of tedious things that will probably not matter to anyone but me. it will make me feel better though. also, I have a list compiled in my head of enough things to do to last us at least three weeks. haven't run this by mom or Aunt Deb, so they will have veto power. I am digging this season of Big Brother. even though I'm getting seriously annoyed with the idiots who are running the house right now. (here's a great idea - let's target someone who hasn't done anything threatening yet, rather than the person everyone else in the house wants out! there's no way THAT could backfire!) anyhow, I am sleepy and want to read some book before bed. good night, internet. music  =  Rob Thomas - Snowblind come back in 4 years :: no soup for you!

[monday jul 27 2009|10:40a] from a q&a with Sophie Kinsella: Q. What is your next book about? A. My next book is going to be a Shopaholic book, but beyond that I'm not giving anything else away at this stage. !!!!! finally! I need there to be another one. come back in 6 years :: no soup for you!

[sunday jul 19 2009|10:36p] I watched the movie Confessions of a Shopaholic earlier today. as you must know by now, this is one of my favorite series ever, and I was slightly nervous about watching the movie especially since I already knew how much of the story was changed. however, I was incredibly surprised to find myself willing to believe this new American Becky and her somewhat-similar-but-not-quite-the-same story. and I was really surprised at how well the reworked story actually worked for the characters. it was so successful that I didn't once scoff at the screen and exclaim, "that's not what happens," as I am so wont to do when I watch Harry Potter movies. instead, it was like watching characters I love (and Isla Fischer did a fantastic job as Becky) after they were transported to a parallel universe where all the real events have been condensed or combined or replaced with new ones, but in a way that is more or less still true to their characters. (of course, there was a weird change where Luke hated his mom instead of secretly revering her, but I'm sure that was just to make things less complicated.) and I don't think they're going on with any more movies because there was a sort of epilogue at the end, which sort of closed off the shopaholic angle that was maintained in all the books. anyway, so now I really think the key to translating a book to the screen is changing the story drastically, but in a recognizable way, while retaining the same characters. because that's what bothers me the most about the Harry Potter movies - they always change the characters in some ways. even if it's just that the characters are described in the book, over and over, as "short and stocky" but then are cast as tall and thin, or the time in the fourth movie when Dumbledore grabbed Harry and shoved him against the wall to question him about putting his name in the Goblet of Fire. (I mean seriously, just have him punch Harry in the face!) I keep thinking I should go see the 6th movie while it's in the theaters, but I saw the last three in the theaters and the last two times, I regretted spending money on it. I think I'll just wait until it comes out on Netflix. or even ABC Family. in conclusion, I <3 today because I didn't work at all. come back in 3 years :: no soup for you!

where to go from here [ you are here | most recent thingies ] [ move along | backward ]